A Relatively Mundane Tale About Goucher College’s Brownies

Inspired by “A Dramatic Tale About Goucher College’s Tomato Soup,” Goucher College senior Rosie David decided to email Bon Appétit Management Company HQ and ask for her favorite recipe.

Hello!

I’m a current Goucher student (for about two and a half more weeks, anyway) and I came across the tomato bisque story today. People really do gush over that bisque — I remember it became available every day, because people asked for it so much on the feedback board after the first time it was served.

Anyway — like everyone else, we’ve been doing a lot of baking recently, and my mother is on a quest for the perfect brownie recipe. She has high standards for brownies (the first recipe she tried, this afternoon, came out “too caky”), but I remembered that she liked the ones served at Goucher when she visited.

So, could you possibly help me get the Goucher brownie recipe? They’re as good as the bisque.

Honestly, I’d probably buy a cookbook of recipes from Goucher’s dining hall. I’m sad I don’t get to have my last few weeks of eating there.

Best,
Rosie

A few emails back and forth later, and Campus Baker Douglas Zerfas has shared his recipe, scaled down from a food-service size. Turns out the secret is butter!

 

Goucher College’s Decadent Fudgy Brownies

1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
5 eggs
12 ounces of butter (3 sticks, 1.5 cups), melted
1.5 cups flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
6-8 ounces chocolate chips (omit if you prefer cake-y brownies)
Pinch salt

Preheat a convection oven to 300 degrees or a regular oven to 325.

Combine sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, and eggs in a bowl and beat with electric mixer for 1 minute.

Add melted butter until all ingredients are incorporated into a smooth batter.

Mix in cocoa powder and combine. Scrape down the bowl and blend by hand to incorporate fully.

Add the flour and pinch salt; blend again. Fold in the chocolate chips with a spatula.

Pour into a 6-by-9 inch sheet pan with at least a 1-inch rim and bake for 30 min or until a toothpick in center comes out clean.

Cool on a wire rack then cut into triangles just like Goucher does.